All of today's stereo microscopes are optical microscopes which observe object through binocular eyepiece. These optical microscopes can be difficult to operate and in extreme cases even cannot observe any image for an inexperience person. Chinese Patent No CN201740916U published on Feb. 9, 2011 discloses a stereo microscope which consists of a double eye observing device, a parallel light stereo zoom lens body having focusing and supporting rack, a stereo digital body, and a digital display device. In this microscope, a reflective component is inserted into a branch path of the stereo microscope, through which images are formed on the image sensor of the stereo digital body and are then provided to the digital display device.
In addition, Chinese patent no CN201145766Y published on Nov. 5, 2008 discloses a stereo imaging system for a surgical microscope. In this microscope two images with certain phase difference are captures by two camera devices synchronously. These images are printed on each side of each picture and then a same stereo vision as that for the patient under the lens is acquired using a convex lens. In this microscope, synchronized imaging is achieved by operating the camera shutters at the as time. It has been proved however, synchronization in this manner is very difficult to achieve in practice. Moreover, the stereo vision is achieved by a convex lens which also demands high operation technique in practice and is not suitable for naked eyes stereo image display.